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07 May 2015

The tunes will be pumping as New Zealand's only radio station aimed at pre-teens and their parents will launch tomorrow, Thursday May 7th.

The brand new radio station, run by CPIT's second year New Zealand Broadcasting School, is called 'Chalk 96.1FM'. Station Manager Connar Fife says Chalk provides 8-12 year olds with the latest tunes and news.

"It's really exciting for Christchurch to have the only station in New Zealand for young people that is directly targeted to them," Fife says. "We're feeling really good at the moment and excited to get this new station on air tomorrow morning."

Each day the station will start with the breakfast team, called "the morning zoo", from 6am- 9am, before the 9am-3pm which is aimed at parents. From 3pm-6pm the "school's out" afternoon show will run before a night show. Music will be top 40 hits and content will be age appropriate.

"Chalk is all about fun and energy. We are bringing something different and exciting for the pre-teens that they haven't really had before," Fife says. "We'll be talking about issues like anti-bullying and starting high school to make the content very topical and relatable."

The task for creating Chalk 96.1 began seven months ago, when CPIT students conducted extensive research to find space in the market for a new, commercially viable radio station. The concepts were presented in front of industry experts, who picked the winning station.

CPIT tutor Dr Brendan Reilly says Chalk was chosen because of its ability to provide for an audience that is not directly being catered for in the commercial radio industry.

Creating and running the station is designed to give students real-world experience and show them what it takes to work in the industry. The students had to raise funds to prove the station was financially viable before they could launch Chalk.

The Chalk launch will begin at 6am tomorrow with the first ever morning zoo broadcast. Fife says the first day will be "all about making a connection with the audience". "We want to introduce ourselves and our music and hopefully they will be entertained and keep listening!"